The Interviews
by nooneimportant2
Summary: Khalisah bin sinan Al-Julani's interviews with Commander Shepard with a twist...sorta Eventual MShepardxTali to fill in the Romance part so be patient UPDATE: I'm cancelling this story now read my explaination inside on chapter 3
1. The First Interview

Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect or anything it's all owned by Microsoft and Bioware Studios

Author's Notes: This is my first fanfiction ever so in the reviews I appreciate compliments but mostly I want constructive criticism with suggestions to improve my writing, this is supposed to be Khalisah bin-sin Al-Julani's interviews with Commander Shepard and what I anticipate to be the third but I personally hated her and forgot some of the exact wording so I'm making a few changes to her dialogue and Shepard's own dialogue options, I felt most characters were kind of "left out" so rather than only two squad mates I'm bringing in all of Shepard's teammates as I'm setting these interviews after recruiting everyone. Also I don't mean to plagiarize I will say: This has been inspired by playing both games and reading other works of this kind so I'm giving it a shot it follows similar context to that of other stories.

* * *

**The First Interview**

Here's a brief rundown of this Shepard at the moment:

Male  
Spacer + Colonist  
Sole Survivor + War Hero +Ruthless  
Now Just finished Therum, Feros, and Noveria all the Paragon Way  
Paragon  
No LI for now  
Gave Tali Geth Data after clearing out Armstrong Nebula  
Found Wrex's family armor  
Found Dr. Saleon and taught Garrus a valuable life lesson (Paragon path of Garrus' assignment)  
Saved Asteroid X57's hostages  
Found and negotiated with Corporal Toombs (UNC: Dead Scientists)  
Successfully Negotiated with Major Kyle (UNC: Major Kyle)  
Took Down Elanos Haliat (UNC: Espionage Probe) and all other minor assignments  
No Love Interest at the Moment

Status: Just buying gear and relaxing before heading to Virmire re-gathering his team from shore leave

Lieutenant Commander John Shepard. Son of Admiral Jacob Shepard and Commander Hannah Shepard, Survivor of the Batarian attack of Mindoir, Once Sole Survivor of the Thresher Maw attack on Akuze, The Lion of Elysium, The Forgiver of Torfan, Record Graduate of N7, Master Negotiator, Avenger of Elysium, Liberator of the Armstrong Nebula, Savior of Terra Nova, A Paragon of all humanity and other races all strive to be, The very best of the best.

"_Perfect"_, thought Khalisah bint sinan Al-Julani of Westerlund News. To her nobody was perfect her job: Find the Impurities in any hero and idol and take them down. Why? Everyone loved Westerlund News because of her: The destroyer of heroes. This time Shepard was her Target.

**Citadel Wards: C-Sec Academy**

"I don't think coming here was the best idea", sighed Shepard

"Why not? We need more gear and the crew deserves a break", replied Kaiden

"Yeah come on relax Commander, geez", agreed Ashley

"True we've all been through a lot but it looks like instead of relaxing things have just heated up even more."

Shepard had told his team not to reveal that they were all part of Shepard's mission against Saren and the Geth so they wouldn't be mobbed seeing as word spread quite fast now. Unfortunately things hadn't gone so well.

Garrus Vakarian the turian had a hard eye and was caught debating with C-Sec officers over them taking bribes eventually leading Garrus to stomp away mumbling how C-Sec really took a turn for the worse and considering quitting and being a full-time SpecTRe.

Urdnot Wrex, being a Krogan, was booed and jeered at in the Markets trying to buy a combat scanner for his HMWAX Assault Rifle and a Medical exoskeleton for his newly repaired family Berserker Armor mumbling to himself that if it weren't the fact that Shepard, practically his brother now, had told him not to fight back he'd have already mowed down about half of the Markets' population.

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, who was a Quarian, was treated even worse than the rest of the team. All she did was simply walk into a store then resulting in half of all the customers in the store claiming she had just stolen credits from them, C-Sec arrived but backed down after Shepard came with Garrus and Wrex revealing Garrus to be _**the**_ Garrus: The most hardcore cop ever seen in C-Sec.

Shepard sighed again, this was gonna be one heck of a mountain of paperwork now.

As he mused Garrus, Tali, and Wrex finally showed up.

"Glad you came are you guys done shopping?"

"Yep, aside from other racists at seeing a Krogan and Quarian we're all good", replied Garrus

"Good, looks like we're done time to get the crew back from shore leave and head to Virmire"

However just as Shepard turned around he heard a female voice call out: "Commander Shepard!"

Instantly everyone turned around to see a close-cropped black-haired, dark skinned human woman in an orange on blue gown holding a datapad and with a camera drone behind her.

"Khalisah bint sinan Al-Julani Westerlund News, would you answer a few questions?" asked Kalisah.

Shepard wasn't sure how she recognized him with the orange tint on his helmet's visor _"Maybe because I'm not wearing the breather mask that comes with it"_ he thought but supposed there was no problem in a few questions.

"Sure I'll answer some questions", said Shepard happily

Immediately Khalisah started typing in her Datapad and Shepard and his team swore they saw a gleam in her eyes. "Okay we are live on the extranet reaching to all corners of the galaxy", _"Stay Calm"_ Shepard told himself, he was a veteran talking to large crowds but on the extranet across literally the whole galaxy still intimidated him but only slightly. Meanwhile every being in the whole galaxy was watching in anticipation of "Westerlund's special interview"

"Humans have tried to gain respect in the Galactic Community for 26 years, with that in mind what are your feelings on being the first human SpecTre?

"The SpecTRes represent the best of every race in the galaxy, to be asked to join them is an honor", replied Shepard, this wasn't too hard at all actually

"Some say that your appointment was more like the Council 'throwing a bone' to the Alliance, have you encountered any situations where the Council has asked you to put their needs ahead of Earth?"

Shepard didn't like this, it was pretty sweetened but he could definitely tell that was just an insult but still stood proud and tall. Meanwhile viewers watched intently, this should be good they all thought.

"The Council respects the needs of every species in the galactic community, we humans are on their agenda list but we're one of many", replied Shepard calmly.

"You really believe that do you?"

"Also according to reports you've been given command of the most advanced human warship ever built: the SSV Normandy SR1 would you care to comment?"

"Actually the Normandy has been built together with Human and Turian engineers. It also includes many new innovations all of which are classified I'm afraid. However it still shows just how much our species can accomplish together."

"So the Turians know more about the Normandy's design than the Alliance public?" "Do you think it was appropriate to hand over humanity's most advanced warship to the Citadel?" Out of the corner of his eye, Shepard saw Liara and Tali step back slightly, Wrex fingering his shotgun, and Garrus eyeing Khalisah with hard eyes.

"I wasn't aware it had been 'handed over' to anyone. I'm still the commanding officer and I'm still human."

"Then what about Feros and Noveria? Rumors say you obeyed the council telling you to kill every colonist on Feros and you took down Peak-15 run by a human company"

"I wasn't ordered to kill or spare the colonists, only to investigate. The colonists were under the control of a parasitic life form and attacked me, I could have shot back but I spared them of my own will and didn't kill them those reports are inaccurate as the colony on Feros is still prospering. As for Noveria, I didn't deliberately take down Peak-15 I was attacked first by hostile mercenaries and had to fight them and Peak-15 is now operational again now."

"I see…Reports say you're tracking a rogue SpecTRe named Saren would you care to comment?"

"Saren instigated the attack on our colony Eden Prime. Once we proved that he was responsible the Council sent me to track him down"

The Galaxy was shocked. Saren, the best Turian SpecTRe, the only one whom the Council would even acknowledge was rouge and had attacked Eden Prime?

"Interesting reports say the attack was pulled out rouge synthetics"

" Could you tell of your crew? Rumors say that some members of your crew aren't human. A Turian running Ops and the ship's All Terrain Vehicle A Krogan inspecting the armory, an Asari in charge of the med-bay and a Quarian working the engines?"

Now this was definitely irritating, outside the camera's view Garrus, Wrex, Liara, and Tali all were visibly nervous. Shepard was their brother was he going to betray them on live Extranet?

"All non-human crew members are still addressed by name even on my ship in which case: Our Turian Garrus Vakarian is our team's tactician and secondary leader he has no equal"

Garrus raised an eyebrow

"Krogan Chieftan Urdnot Wrex is our team's muscle and always makes sure we don't run into a firefight underequipped"

Wrex grinned

"Liara T'Soni is an archaeologist but she's also a psychologist for the crew even among the Asari she knows how the minds of all species work, she and Dr. Chakwas make sure the crew is at their best health both mental and physical."

Liara smiled shyly and shuffled her feet

"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya is a Quarian but who cares? Quarians are the galaxy's most misunderstood people all the galaxy treats them like trash but they're the best techs in the galaxy if you give them a chance and Tali here is the pride of the Migrant Fleet and she's the best tech I've ever seen."

Though her face was hidden Tali was blushing profusely

"All my crew human or not are all my friends and together they represent what we can all accomplish together. If humanity and all other species of the Galaxy work together like my team then we can accomplish anything"

Garrus, Wrex, Liara, and Tali were stunned, Shepard would do anything for them as their friend but he had just stood up for all of them individually on live Extranet to the whole galaxy.

Al-Julani turned off the camera drone, "Good luck with your mission", she said, anger evident in her voice" and walked away.

For a few seconds nobody spoke then Garrus said, "Wow I can't believe you did that for all of us"

"Why not you're all my family and you represent the whole of each of your species as well I couldn't let you guys get downplayed on the Extranet", replied Shepard

"Well whatever the reason thanks Shepard", said Tali

"Okay everyone we're all done here and we have 6 hours left, shopping's done so enjoy yourselves"

"YES!" Exclaimed Wrex and everyone immediately left.

_Two Hours Later_

**Upper Wards, Al Julani's office**

Khalisah bin sinan Al-Julani sighed

She had tried to take down Shepard in front of the whole galaxy but instead had been crushed herself what would she do? Just then her comm rang. It was her boss Adam Westerlund.

"What was that?" exclaimed her boss.

"What do you mean?"

"You just tried to smear the galaxy's greatest hero, you twisted facts, and you made Westerlund look bad!"

"Boss give me another chance!", begged Khalisah

"*sigh* alright you're still my best reporter so I'll give you another chance but don't screw up!"

"Yes Sir!"

_Four Hours Later_

**Normand SR1 Bridge**

"Alright glad you're back you're just in time", said Joker

"Back in time for what?", asked Shepard

"Your 'interview' with that crazy lady on the Extranet c'mon guys take a look"

The team crowded around the cockpit and watched. After it was over the news anchor said:

"This was Commander Shepard showing that underneath that Uniform is a skilled diplomatic mind interested in not just humanity's needs, but the needs of every species in Council Space after an interview with Khalisah bin sinan Al-Julani and answering many difficult questions"

"Nice one Commander you sure showed her!", exclaimed Joker

"Yeah well I try", replied Shepard. "Come on we have a mission to complete Joker, get us to Virmire everyone back to your posts"

"Yes Sir!", saluted everyone all proud to say that.

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Author's Notes: Well that's done now, I give credit to writer InHarmsWay for the inspiration so thanks man!

To clarify: when I made Shepard a Spacer and Colonist: he followed the Spacer background and while his parents were on a mission he stayed with his relatives on Mindoir

For every military background: He was on Akuze, he was on Elysium, and he was at Torfan but at Torfan he didn't act Ruthless he was just doing his job there instead of random slaughter.

I didn't know Shepard's Spacer father's name so I just did Jacob, the first thing I thought of

I am in the middle of playing ME2 I'm also studying for exams so the 2nd chapter may take a little while because I'll have to go back and do the interview again so yeah…


	2. The Second Interview

The Second Interview

Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect or anything it's all owned by Microsoft and Bioware Studios

Author's Notes: This is still my first fanfiction just another chapter and I'm on purposely trying not to follow in-game dialogue if I can and although I asked for some constructive criticism I only got one review for that so thank you guys I appreciate your positive comments and favorite story adding but I'm mostly looking for constructive criticism to help thank you though and special thanks to the uh guy who apparently didn't leave a name.

* * *

**The Second Interview**

Here's a brief rundown of this Shepard at the moment:

Male  
Spacer + Colonist  
Sole Survivor + War Hero +Ruthless (Only fought at Torfan but did not kill innocent Batarians)  
Now Just finished Therum, Feros, and Noveria all the Paragon Way  
Paragon  
No LI from ME1, Secret Relationship with Tali  
Gave Tali Geth Data after clearing out Armstrong Nebula  
Found Wrex's family armor  
Found Dr. Saleon and taught Garrus a valuable life lesson (Paragon path of Garrus' assignment)  
Saved Asteroid X57's hostages  
Found and negotiated with Corporal Toombs (UNC: Dead Scientists)  
Successfully Negotiated with Major Kyle (UNC: Major Kyle)  
Took Down Elanos Haliat (UNC: Espionage Probe) and all other minor assignments  
Left behind Kaiden Alenko on Virmire  
Saved the Council  
Voted Anderson as Councilor and Udina as secondary.

Status: Wandering around the Citadel checking things out while squad is buying supplies, this time wearing his helmet's visor to conceal his identity.  
Time: Right before Collector abduction of the Normandy Crew, Completed all loyalty missions

Lieutenant Commander John Shepard. Son of Admiral Jacob Shepard and Commander Hannah Shepard, Survivor of the Batarian attack of Mindoir, Once Sole Survivor of the Thresher Maw attack on Akuze, The Lion of Elysium, The Forgiver of Torfan, Record Graduate of N7, Master Negotiator, Avenger of Elysium, Liberator of the Armstrong Nebula, Savior of Terra Nova, First Human SpecTRe. A Paragon of all humanity and other races all strive to be, The very best of the best and now: The Savior of the Citadel and the Council.

"_Oh REALLY_", Thought Khalisah bin-sinan Al-Julani of Westerlund News. To her nobody was perfect her job: Find the Impurities in any hero and idol and take them down. Why? Everyone loved Westerlund News because of her: The destroyer of heroes. She had tried to take down Shepard once and failed and now it was time for payback.

Khalisah sighed, according to C-Sec Customs Shepard had just now come through so why was he taking so long?

She then noticed for the first time a tall heavily armored man wandering aimlessly. Despite all the designs on his custom armor he could clearly see a small N7 badge on the right side of his armor.

"_Could it be?_", thought Khalisah.

"Okay Shepard we're done just call the cab and we'll leave", said a tall turian wearing what looked like prototype new heavy turian military armor with bandages on the right side of his face.

"_Garrus? Shepard?_", Khalisah thought, "Excellent, plus all of his crew is here as well let's see how he deals with this!"

"Can I help you ma'am?", asked Shepard pretending not to recognize her.

"Khalisah bin-sinan Al-Julani Westerlund News got time for the press Shepard?"

"_Dammit Garrus you just had to say my name aloud I could have just stayed like this for a while_", Shepard crossed his arms

"I interviewed you when you first became a SpecTRe", Khalisah began, "You presented your case very well on camera can I ask you a few more questions?"

"You spent most of the time trying to smear me and my team on live Extranet plus you tried making my team seem like useless aliens and my ship as a zoo!", replied Shepard harshly

"You proved me wrong in the end, now that you're back you're news"

"_Oh great_", though Tali and Garrus together. They both knew what would happen in one of Al-Julani's interviews.

The Camera started rolling

"Now Shepard it seems that you tend to make decisions with questionable results such as Asteroid X57, You apparently let the Batarian leader Balak free to save a handful of hostages what was your goal in that?"

Shepard resisted punching Khalisah square in the face. She had tried to smear him before and here she was again but he decided to give it one more go and see how that turned out.

"Those hostages were the engineers on the Asteroid. X57 would have crashed into Terra Nova without them plus not only that I don't leave hostages in a life-death situation alone. As for Balak he's on the run now his own crew hates him"

"_Damn_", thought Kalisah. She had to give Shepard credit he was good. "Okay Shepard what of the Armstrong Nebula? You apparently cleared out the Geth Strongholds but gave data you hacked from their computer networks to your crew member Tali. Is that really a good idea to give a race of scavengers, thieves, and vagrants valuable data who could give the data to anyone?"

This was frustrating for Shepard that had been a gift to the Quarian people and to Tali! "The Quarians have been living on ships for almost 300 years and they need to find a way back to their home world Rannoch. That data has helped the Quarians as a whole. I hope that they can be peaceful but the the Quarians are the galaxy's best engineers! That data had information on the Reapers themselves! They could develop a new weapon to help in the inevitable war against the Reapers plus I trust Tali she's helped me through tough times and I know she won't use that data against us."

Khalisah gritted her teeth. Shepard was once again making himself seem the master diplomat and her as the raving lunatic but she smiled she had one more trick up her sleeve...

"Interesting viewpoint there Shepard but reports also put you as the one at the heart of the Citadel when the Alliance attacked Sovereign. Apparently you made the call to have the Alliance save the Council at the cost of many human lives would you care to comment?"

Shepard would have taken out his M6 Predator Hand Cannon and emptied his clip into Khalisah but decided against it. As for his response…

"The turians lost about 20 cruisers with a crew of 300 hundred each, the salarians lost 30 and the asari: 50. The asari dreadnought the Alliance saved? That in addition to the Council had a crew a nearly 10,000 who knows how many more civilians they evacuated onto that ship."

"But the human cost-"

"Was 8 cruisers, 2 frigates, 4 carriers, and a dreadnought. Cairo, Cape Town, Emden, Shenyang, Seoul, Jakarta, Warsaw, Madrid, Thermopylae, Hastings, Salk, Picasso, Davinci, Bourlaug, and Annapura. Yes I remember them all. Everyone in the 5th fleet is a hero dead or alive, the Alliance owes them medals, the Council owes them more, and the rest of the galaxy owes them even more…Even you", Shepard replied angrily and walked away.

"Commander Shepard first human SpecTRe. Hero of the Citadel", Khalisah said to the camera drone as she turned it off. "_dammit bull-rushed on my own show_"

"That response was even better than the first one Shepard", said Tali

"Was it?"

"Yeah you showed that crazy lady who's boss twice", said Garrus

"Hah thanks guys", replied Shepard

**Later that Evening**

"WHAT WAS THAT!", shouted Adam Westerlund

"I-"

"The First Interview was bad enough this one was WORSE!"

"Boss one more chance I beg you", Khalisah pleaded.

"*sigh* ONE more chance or else you're fired you got that?"

"Yes..sir", replied Khalisah fearfully.

"_One day_", She thought. "_One day I'll take you down Shepard you have my word_"

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Author's Notes: Well there is chapter 2 sorry it took so long and it's so short I had to study for exams so anyway R&R thanks!


	3. Cancellation

Author's notes

*sigh* I'll just put it bluntly: I am cancelling this story due to lack of reviews and ideas especially since I'm going to have to start from scratch for chapter 3. Maybe if people want me to I'll write a longer more serious fanfic centered on ME1 and ME2 and after ME3 comes out I'll put that in. Either way I've got tons of ideas floating around in my head for other things and I'm going on vacation for 3 weeks then camp for 3 weeks the week after so I'll be brainstorming on that instead so yeah…

Thanks to all who reviewed even though there were only 3…but thanks anyway bye!


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